Even experienced gardeners reach a point where they know the garden needs an overhaul, but just can’t figure out where to start. Inspired by her years of garden design consulting, Rebecca’s book is filled with easy-to-implement, beautifully illustrated solutions, and the timing couldn’t be better. Autumn is when many of us simplify our gardening routine and start planning for next spring. With Refresh Your Garden Design, you’ll have the tools you need to hit the ground running when the weather turns.

Or maybe not all the tools. All good parties have favors, and every blog on the tour is giving away a different prize geared towards helping you wake up your own garden. I feel lucky because I’m giving away the best prize. (Hmm, maybe because I took advantage of our friendship and asked Rebecca to customize my offering?) In addition to a year’s subscription to Horticulture and an ebook edition of Rebecca’s popular ‘Harmony in the Garden’ column, one lucky winner will receive a free, virtual consultation with Rebecca!

How does it work? Simply take a few photos from different angles of a
garden bed or two in need of a refresh. Rebecca will analyze them using
the principles of color, form and texture featured in both her book and
the popular talks she gives around the country. Then, she’ll provide you with a
customized set of suggestions. How cool is that?

An example of a "virtual garden makeover" from one of Rebecca's presentations:

Good

Better (Tip from the book: eliminate the distraction of color when you want to analyze form and texture)

But don’t limit yourself to just one chance to win! A total of seven blogs are giving away the prizes listed below. Simply click on the links and leave a comment on each blog to enter.

The giveaway runs through Sunday, November 10th at 11:59 pm and the winners will be announced on Monday the 11th. Please note that because of shipping costs, this giveaway is restricted to residents of the continental U.S.

Check back next Monday to see if you're a winner. Good luck!

Dee Nash at Red Dirt Ramblings is offering a hand-selected bulb bonanza in conjunction with Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply. Known online as GrowOrganic.com, Peaceful Valley was established by organic farmers in 1976 and has grown to be the largest organic gardening supply company in the U.S! This organic bulb collection is an ideal way to introduce seasonal color echoes into your garden. (valued at $50.00)

Pam Penick at Digging is giving away a $50 gift certificate to the irresistible online nursery Annie’s Annuals. Annie’s specializes in rare and unusual annual & perennial plants, including cottage garden heirlooms and native wildflowers. They have a huge selection of amazing treasures that are guaranteed to help introduce color, texture and form back into your garden!

Robin Horton at Urban Gardens is offering a fantastic garden-watering duo from the kind folks at Dramm: the One Touch Rain Wand and Color Storm Turret Sprinkler (valued at $50). Dramm is a family-run business that makes some of the best, and certainly most colorful, garden watering tools around, helping to make your garden chores easy and fun!

Shawna Coronado is giving away a $75 online gift card from Proven Winners, a mail-order nursery that’s a plant lover’s dream. With the company’s goal of introducing ‘the best, most unique and high performing plants’ to the public, this prize is an ideal way to add a breath of fresh air to your garden!

Carol Michel at May Dreams Gardens is giving away a much-desired Fiskarstool set: a Telescoping Bypass Loper and a Long-Handled Aluminum Hoe (valued at $65). Fiskars products are renowned worldwide for their functionality and cutting-edge design so what better way to take care of your garden, keeping it in tip-top shape!

At Gossip in the Garden, Rebecca is offering something for tech-savvy and traditional gardeners alike: a Garden App Package consisting of Sunset’s Western Garden app, Foolproof Plants for Small Gardens app and the Garden Tracker-Bumper Crop app - as well as a signed copy of her new book (valued at $40.00)

October 29, 2013

A few days ago I attended an excellent seminar presented by the Garden Conservancy titled "Front Yard Gardens Take Center Stage." As I am acquainted with most of the speakers, I was a tad concerned all talks would center on replacing lawns with gardens. While this is a worthwhile topic I often blog about, five hours of lose-the-lawn ranting is a bit much, even for a true believer like me.

Happily for me, the seminar instead dished up a broad range of information on how to transform a front yard, presented by speakers with very distinct points of view. It would take many more posts than this lazy blogger is willing to write to pass on everything that I learned, but read on for one big idea from each of the five presenters.

Gordon's presentation focused on classic design principles, amply illustrated with front yard photos from around the country. Much of his talk centered on the importance of the relationship between home and garden, with the central idea that a front garden should be designed to support the house. Examples from his talk include using trees to balance the scale of the home or soften rooflines, fences to create context and pathways designed to roll out the red carpet for guests. Gordon is the author of numerous garden books, but should you wish to further explore how to maximize the connection between home and garden (and not just in the front) I recommend Your House, Your Garden: A Foolproof Approach to Garden Design.

John Greenlee - Meadow gardens aren't just for large properties; even small landscapes have room for a "meadowette."

Despite owning a copy of The American Meadow Garden: Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn and having heard John speak on more than one occasion, I confess I've never created a meadow garden for a client. Many of the gardens I design are small, and figuring out how to include a meadow has always seemed too daunting a task to tackle. But John pointed out that meadowettes are a practical solution for small spaces, whether used as a transition between lawn and a surrounding garden, or in place of small lawns (which in addition to being dull, are often too narrow or convoluted to be irrigated efficiently). The best part about tackling a baby meadow? An exciting effect can be achieved with a much smaller palette than may be required for a larger space. Some of John's favorite choices include Carex pansa, Poa arachnifera and Sesleria autumnalis or S. 'Greenlee' (a personal favorite of mine).

Vera Gates - Every landscape project should begin with a goalAt Vera's firm Arterra Landscape Architects in San Francisco, their goal is to create gardens that are beautiful, memorable and sustainable. I love this mantra, as it so clearly addresses the complex potential of a garden. At its best, a garden speaks to the senses (beautiful) and creates a unique experience for both the owner and visitor (memorable), while also doing its own small part to support the wider world (sustainable). At the beginning of each practice, my yoga instructor sets an intention for the class and encourages us to either follow it or to set one of our own. If you are about to embark on a landscape renovation, begin by setting your own intention - or borrow Arterra's philosophy.

Part celebration of the spreading movement to grow food instead of lawns and part thoughtful design commentary, Ivette Soler shared her passion and support for the expanding number of front yard edible gardens that are popping up across the country. While she believes no one should shy away from growing food because of design considerations, she also provided strategies for making a space filled with fruits and vegetables as attractive as possible. Her most valuable tip: Corral edible gardens with hardscape materials substantial enough to contain the inherently raucous nature of veggies. As Ivette says, front yard food doesn't have to turn into a front yard farm. Read more ideas, in particular creative ways to mix edibles with ornamentals in her book The Edible Front Yard: The Mow-Less, Grow-More Plan for a Beautiful, Bountiful Garden

Books and lectures on the lawn-free lifestyle often focus on the evils of lawn, but Evelynís talk reminded me of everything we gain when we swap out grass for garden: More scents, more sounds, more seasonal changes and more diverse wild life. Who wouldn't prefer a garden that attracts birds and butterflies to a lawn that mainly attracts chemicals and lawnmowers? At the end of her talk, she asked for a show of hands from those considering giving up at least a part of their lawn and received an enthusiastic response. No-lawn gardens are sometimes considered a western-only phenomenon, but check out the range of photos in Evelyn's book Beautiful No-Mow Yards: 50 Amazing Lawn Alternatives and you'll realize that gardeners all over the country are equally interested in bringing more life into their spaces.

If any of these speakers wind up in your area, donít miss the opportunity to hear them in person. I'll close by saying that even better than what I learned was the chance to spend time with several of the speakers after the seminar ended. Thanks for both the lessons and the stimulating dinner conversation!

September 02, 2013

This Saturday, September 7, the Contra Costa County Master
Gardeners are hosting a sustainability fair at Our Garden in Walnut Creek. 2013
marks the 30th anniversary of our master gardener program, and what
better way to celebrate than doing what we do best – sharing our passion for
gardening with our community.

If you’ve been to an Our Garden presentation held
Wednesdays throughout the summer, you’ll be right at home listening to one of
the talks under the oak tree. Presentations include an introduction to canning
and preserving and the art of successfully growing winter vegetables.

More of a hands-on person? You’ll appreciate the eleven demos going
on throughout the day, on topics ranging from sheet mulching and backyard
chickens to gardening in containers. Check out presentation and demo topics and times here.

I’ll be working at the children’s activity area, and have
been busy the past weekends building mason bee blocks kids can decorate and
take home. I didn’t do all the work myself (or any of it, actually).

In addition to Nick and fellow MG Roxy, Roxy’s kids pitched
in with hole drilling. Clearly they feel our program can benefit from some
gangsta-style cool.

Seriously, could there BE a cuter vegetable? And only a month to maturity which is about as close as you can come to instant gratification in the world of vegetable gardening.

But wait, there’s more! Many of our
community partners are joining us with booths and winter vegetable starts will be
for sale - a full list is here. Food trucks will be in the adjacent parking lot for those of you
who require a little fuel to power you through a day of gardening education.

June 27, 2013

Recently, I had the pleasure of giving a succulent potting
demonstration in my clients Carla and Lennart’s garden to benefit a very worthy
cause: St. Vincent’s - The Children of Kibera. A part of the One World
Children's Fund, the charity supports orphans and underprivileged children in
Kibera, Kenya.

We covered a lot of things in 40 minutes – potting, propagating
and container care just to name a few – but for this post, I’m sticking with
the heart of the demonstration: designing with succulents in containers.

I consider succulents to be the most forgiving of plants
when it comes to container gardening. Not only do they thrive with very little
care, but their range of textures and foliage colors allows them to shine in a
starring role or as a supporting
player. I find that even the most carelessly composed container will still look
good. That said, why go for good, when you can go for great?

One is all you need

I’m fond of the minimalist look when it comes to container
gardening, and succulents lend themselves perfectly to this design aesthetic. A
classic container design strategy is to choose plants to echo the color
of the container. With its delicate red stems and green leaves tinged with soft
yellow, Sedum tricolor is a perfect choice for a small, simple container. To echo the creamy edging of the leaves, I
used a yellow pot, but this would work equally well with red (jade green would
be okay, but probably a bit too monotone). While it is true that other
plants—coleus comes to mind—also sport multiple foliage colors on the same
plant, Sedum’s softly rounded shape is perfect for a small container, and its
drought-tolerant habit means you don’t need to worry about watering it every
day. Newly planted, this sedum will quickly spill over the sides of the pot.

If one plant is a little too minimalist for you, pop an
Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’ in the center of a larger yellow pot to pick up the red in
the stems. Gently pry apart the sedum into four sections, and arrange around
the Aeonium.

Thriller, filler, spiller works with succulents, too

In the hotly competitive world of garden design, there is
some disagreement as to who coined the phrase “thriller, filler, spiller," but
regardless, it continues to be a solid strategy when approaching container
gardening. For our thriller plant, I used an Echiveria ‘Afterglow’, chosen for
its larger scale and softly tinted color (and also because this was
previously in my own garden and I was willing to part with it). Because I
wasn’t sure where the container would end up, I opted for what I call a wedding cake
arrangement (soft and symmetrical) where the thriller is placed in the center and the other plants
circle around it. If I knew the container was going into a corner, I might
place this slightly off center and place a tall-growing Aeonium ‘Zsartkop’
behind it for additional height. Design tip: For asymmetrical arrangements that won't be seen from all sides, succulent expert Debra Baldwin recommends tipping the rosettes towards the viewing angle.

Fillers include bright silver Senecio haworthii on the left and ruffled, blue-tinted Echiveria 'Topsy Turvy' on the right. In the back where it's not visible, I added an Aeonium 'Swartzop' for a pop of burgundy.

My usual “go-to” spiller is a Sedum for medium-sized containers like this, but I loved the pink tint to the leaves of Oscularia deltoides - pink ice plant, so went with it instead. Plants that spill with a plumper vs. a long, trailing habit work best with short pots.

Oscularia courtesy of Chhe at en.wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

No pot is an island

An advantage of doing this potting demonstration in a
private garden versus a nursery, is that it allowed me to share one final
design strategy – incorporate your container compositions into the landscape as
a whole. Treating each succulent container as a stand-alone masterpiece will
ultimately result in a chaotic look in the very same way choosing each plant individually without considering the rest of the garden does. In Carla and Lennart’s case, we
pulled our design inspiration from the existing container collection and the
natural colors of their bluestone patio – silvers and blues accented by deeper
grays and soft burgundy.

Although I love succulents and my own collection has been
steadily growing over the past 5 years, I don’t consider myself an expert by
any means. For this presentation, to ensure all the information I shared was
correct, I relied on Succulents Simplified: Growing, Designing, and Crafting with 100 Easy-Care Varieties by Debra Lee Baldwin. If you are a
beginner or intermediate succulent gardener, I highly recommend this book as a
resource.

On a final note, a special thanks to Robin Stockwell of
Succulent Gardens for donating a living wall as a door prize.

May 31, 2013

Wear nude-colored shoes to make your legs look longer. Hang a
mirror on a wall to make a room look larger. Tricking the eye to create the
illusion that something is not quite what it seems is everywhere, including
garden design. Small-space gardeners often seek to create the impression of
more space, but illusion can take many forms.

Sun and Shadow

In March I enjoyed a much-needed vacation in Cancun. You may
recall that the brilliant colors of Quintana Roo inspired me, but I was equally
intrigued by how cultural and religious references were incorporated into the
built environment, oftentimes for the purpose of creating illusions meant to evoke
awe, reverence or fear.

In the ancient Mayan ruin of Chichen Itza, the Temple of
Castillo is probably the most famous structure. Built to honor the serpent god Kukulcan, his
presence is represented by the two stone serpents that flank either side of the
staircase.

A true marvel of astronomy and mathematics, on the spring and autumn
equinoxes, afternoon sunshine lights up a bright zigzag pattern made by the
steps, creating the illusion that a giant serpent is slithering down the
stairs.

While the complex calculations required to create a magical
slight of hand of this magnitude are far beyond the tools of a simple garden
designer, illusion is an important
part of landscape lighting design. It’s easy to put a pathlight next to a
walkway, or an uplight in front of a Japanese maple, but to create your own
fantastical bit of garden trickery, take advantage of downlighting. In the
natural world, light shines down from above, which is why lighting your
landscape in the same way creates a much more realistic effect. One of my
favorite techniques is moonlighting, achieved by hanging a small, low-watt fixture
from a tree or other overhead structure, and allowing it to cast a gentle glow
on the ground below.

This type of softly dispersed light more closely mimics
the effect of moonlight in a way that can’t be achieved by a focused beam, helping
to feed the illusion that the light source is natural.

The Illusion of Movement

On a day trip to Isla Mujeres, Kukulcan in serpent shape
appeared again, this time embedded in a concrete staircase. Easily one of the
most artful staircases I’ve ever seen, the slithering serpent outlined in
carefully chosen stones adds a subtle sense of movement to the landscape. Creating
the illusion of movement makes a garden feel alive, and is a no-fail strategy for turning an ordinary space into something extraordinary.

If a hardscape upgrade isn't in the cards, an easier way to do this is with plants. With their delicate
foliage that sparkles in the light and sways with the slightest breeze, finely-textured ornamental grasses are the go-to solution for many gardeners.

For large gardens, this effect is intensified when grasses
are massed together to form a sinuous, wavy shape.

Photo courtesy of Tai Williams

But even in small gardens, one or two carefully placed
grasses can achieve a similar effect. My favorite small-space grass for this
particular design strategy is Pennisetum orientale (pictured here), but other grasses will work
as well.

My time in Cancun reminded me that it is always worthwhile to look beyond obvious upgrades like hardscape and plants when rethinking your garden. In this instance, a few small illusions are all you need to bring the play of
light, shadow and movement into your garden.